Inclusive ed PD from TRCC & Canty Uni

Everybody In: supporting the learning, participation and success of children and young people with disabilities in education This course, run in partnership with the University of Canterbury, is for all…

This course, run in partnership with the University of Canterbury, is for all teachers and leaders working in Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary settings with a desire to recognise and support ALL children and young people to be the learners they are and can be.

Inclusive education requires us to transform how we think and what we do in response to difference and diversity in education and society. At this course you will:

 learn how to apply frameworks for inclusive thinking and practices e.g. Te Tiriti O Waitangi, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and the Index for Inclusion using NZ education resources e.g. Ministry of Education Inclusive education: guides for schools, Narrative assessment: A guide for teachers and Teachers and Teachers’ aides working together

 see how other teachers are using these resources and problem solving to support all learners with a particular emphasis on the learning, participation and success of children and young people with disabilities

 explore what ‘inclusive education’ can mean in your setting

 build your own competence, confidence and capability for teaching all students

This course will provide a safe, respectful and collaborative space for professional development and learning. Participants will be challenged and supported to extend their own knowledge, networks and understanding of how they can enable ‘Everybody In’, in their classroom, school and early childhood education setting.

Dates: Monday 26th – Wednesday 28th September, 2016

Venue: University of Canterbury Dovedale Campus, Christchurch

Cost: Earlybird rates if paid by 12th August, if paid after this date an additional $100 applies. Fee includes course costs, daytime catering, and accommodation if live in, travel is subsidised as per our travel policy for the first 40 paid registrations for this course – see website for details.

Everybody In – Making it ‘real’
The New Zealand Curriculum & Te Whāriki recognise all students as learners who are valued members in their education settings.

However barriers and tensions in our education system make it difficult for children and young people with disabilities to fully participate and thrive in education alongside their peers and in their communities.

Teachers, families, students, early childhood centres and schools have a range of concerns about accessing the knowledge, resources and support they need to ensure they can provide the best education for every child.

When we talk to early childhood and primary school teachers and leaders about including and teaching children with disabilities in their classrooms and schools some common threads emerge:

The Education Support Worker / teacher’s aide ‘does the inclusion’…

What about the other 29 children? It’s fine to include special needs children if they come with resources and support. But it’s not fair for the other children and families if it takes too much teacher time away and puts a strain on things.

It takes too long for funding and support to come through for some of our children who really need it. Sometimes we never get it, it’s not enough or it’s not the right kind of support.

It’s hard working out how to help some staff to think and practice inclusively.

I wasn’t trained to do this.

We don’t want to be perfect, we don’t think that’s realistic or ideal. But we do want to strive to do our best and keep on getting better at meeting the needs of our diverse children, families and community.

We need help joining up the dots. We need ideas for really embedding inclusion in our centre/school culture, relationships and teaching.

‘Everybody In’, a course being offered by TRCC in partnership with the University of Canterbury from 26 – 28th September, offers an opportunity to spend three days getting to grips with how you can support the learning, participation and success of children and young people with disabilities in your classroom and school.
Bernadette Macartney (Course Director of Everybody In) says “Recognising and supporting the learning, participation and success of all young people, including students with disabilities, involves on-going collaboration, listening and productive relationships between children, families, teachers, teacher’s aides and other professionals. There are many examples of teachers who are making a positive difference in early childhood and school settings. Often this rests on a ‘can do attitude’ and believing that ‘where there’s a will there’s a way’. This course is about supporting each other, showing and finding pathways to teach inclusively within the realities and systemic challenges that we face in our daily work and relationships. Good leadership can keep a centre/school and community focussed, listening to each other, problem solving and gaining momentum. Our aim is for participants to leave the course feeling more confident and better equipped to lead and support positive change in their settings.
“At a TRCC course, ‘for teachers, by teachers’ is always going to be at the centre, hence at Everybody In a big part of what will be on offer is practitioners, leaders and facilitators from early childhood care and education, primary and secondary sectors sharing their practice and stories of what’s been working. We will have multiple opportunities to listen, talk and learn from each other’s experiences and perspectives. Course goers will engage with disabled people, and families’ perspectives
throughout the course as well as contributing and reflecting on their own experiences and perspectives.
“The course workshops will outline frameworks, resources and practice to support inclusive education in early childhood education, primary and secondary school settings. Topics and frameworks in workshops will include: Using narrative assessment to support learning, participation and success (early years, and primary/secondary workshops), Māori cultural frameworks and practices and inclusive education, using the Index for Inclusion, principles and practice of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), The Learning and Teaching Story Framework (early years), and working with Education Support Workers/Teacher’s aides: professional roles and responsibilities (ECE, and Primary and secondary workshops).” (Bernadette Macartney, Course Director)

UDL (Universal Design for Learning) is a key framework being highlighted at the course. Chrissie Butler (CORE) will facilitate workshops exploring how we can create environments that are designed from the outset to include ‘all’ students, where flexibility is built in from the beginning. Chrissie says “UDL is a framework that supports us to think about how we can: design more flexible environments and utilise technologies to increase access for all students instead of creating single solutions for a given student e.g. for a student who needs support for writing you can offer text-to-speech, why don’t we offer this to all students? Why don’t we as teachers model using text-to-speech for everybody? Then it becomes an ordinary thing.”
Sometimes the language around ‘inclusive education’ gets in the way, if it’s not made real for teachers, it’s just one more barrier. Annie Guerin, one of the planning committee members, says ” I struggle with us having to use a term like ‘inclusive education’ as I think if we have the confidence and feel capable of working and learning with all students in our classes then that is inclusive. I like to think of that as simply being a term for education. The shift is from a belief that education is for some students (and the rest get segregated) to a belief that education is for all students. If education is for all students then it is inclusive. When I think of inclusive education I often think of Keith Ballard, a NZ researcher, who defines inclusion as “The way we treat each other.” As a teacher I often think of that in my work. ”
Everybody In plans to make ‘inclusive education’ real for teachers and leaders as they work to support the learning, participation and success of children and young people in their settings.
Everybody In: supporting the learning, participation and success of children and young people with disabilities in education 26 – 28th September, UoC, Christchurch, some subsidised travel spaces available. Enrol online at www.trcc.org.nz.

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About EA

Education Aotearoa is the magazine of the New Zealand Educational Institute. It’s published quarterly and goes to 47,000 educators working in early and primary education. These include support staff, teachers and principals.